His mother made him do it…or did she?  Every summer, they had a family policy that the kids were to write and finish one book by the end of summer. Perhaps this was an intuitive sense that her son had a story to tell and the hidden means to tell it.

And that’s exactly what twelve-year-old Jake did. His mom was happy and would have helped him turn it into an eBook, but Jake was impassioned.  “I had to fire my mom,” he said. “Yeah, I fired her because I wanted to get the book published.” Watch his interview with CBS Evening News:

Jake’s story is a perfect illustration of how passion drives brilliance. Jake recalls he spent two days cold- calling agents (he looked up how to do that on the internet) and piqued the interest of an agent in a top firm.  A year later his semi-autobiographical recounting of the life of a tween put him on the New York Times bestseller list, ranking 7th in children’s middle grade books.

In Jake’s interview for Pop Culture he explains why this book became so important to him: “First off, it’s a funny book,” Jake said, explaining his success. “Second, it conveys messages about fitting in and just being yourself — and anti-bullying, of course. It’s about how kids can do big things.”

Jake can be reached through his website at: http://justjake.com